Georgia Bulldogs: A Recent History of Losing…Not as Bad as it Looks

The score of Saturday’s game against South Carolina was not what fans wanted, but I’ll once again encourage Bulldog fans to keep some perspective. The Bulldogs traveled to Columbia looking to upset a top-6 SEC team on the road. Only once in the last three and a half seasons has a team been able to defeat a top-6 SEC team who was playing at home. That was LSU’s win at Alabama last season. So again, let’s try to be reasonable. As a guy I golfed with once said, “Chicago didn’t burn down in a day.” And neither did Georgia football.

Obviously the loss was the latest in a string of disappointing defeats for the Dawgs. In an effort to depress everyone I decided to take a look at each of those losses.

I went back to 2008 and analyzed each loss utilizing the following data:

Who did Georgia play?

What was the opposition’s rank at game time?

What was Georgia’s rank at game time?

Where was the game played?

What was the opposition’s highest ranking of the season?

What was Georgia’s highest ranking of the season?

Here are some things that I found.

I’m a loser baby.

Ranked UGA vs. Unranked Opposition

The first thing that stands out is something that Richt-bashers will never point out. When Georgia is ranked they have not lost to unranked opposition. In other words, Georgia has avoided massive upsets at the hand of huge underdogs.

That may sound unmeritorious, but consider this: since the start of the 2008 season only Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky and Georgia out of the SEC have avoided being upset by an unranked team while ranked in the top-25. It happened to Florida in 2008, Vanderbilt in 2008, South Carolina just about every year (more on that later*), Tennessee in 2008, LSU in 2008 and 2009, Auburn in 2008, 2009 and 2011, Ole Miss in 2009 and Mississippi State in 2011. Kentucky has avoided such embarrassment by staying out of the top-25 for the entirety of this 4.5 year survey. Arkansas was not ranked at any point during the first two years.

Only Alabama and Georgia have been ranked at some point in each of the past five seasons and avoided a loss to an unranked team while being ranked in the top-25. The last time that happened to the Crimson Tide was November 10, 2007 when the 21st ranked Tide lost to Mississippi State. The last time it happened to the Bulldogs was in an October 6, 2007 loss to Tennessee. So for all the outrage and disgust Mark Richt hasn’t been upset by a decisively inferior opponent over the last 4.5 seasons, and he has the longest current tenure without such an upset.

*For what it’s worth South Carolina has experienced that type of defeat in each of the last five seasons:

10/1/2011: #10 South Carolina loses to unranked Auburn at home by a score of 16-13.

10/16/2010: #10 South Carolina loses to unranked Kentucky on the road by a score of 31-28.

10/31/2009: #22 South Carolina loses to unranked Tennessee on the road by a score of 31-13.

9/4/2008: #24 South Carolina loses to unranked Vanderbilt on the road by a score of 24-17.

10/20/2007: #6 South Carolina loses to unranked Vanderbilt at home by a score of 17-6.

South Carolina avoided such a debacle in 2006 by not being ranked at all but had a previously established routine of losing such games during Spurrier’s first season and Lou Holtz’s last season in Columbia:

11/19/2005: #19 South Carolina loses to unranked Clemson at home by a score of 13-9.

10/9/2004: #25 South Carolina loses to unranked Ole Miss at home by a score of 31-28.

So again, there’s hope for the Cocks screwing up.

…but back to the Bulldogs.

Losses Against Unranked Opponents

All of Georgia’s losses to unranked opponents have occurred when the Dawgs themselves were not ranked. Five of Georgia’s losses during this time period (a period that saw a total of 20 losses) came in this type of unranked versus unranked scenario. Interestingly enough, four of those losses (80%) came away from home (in Knoxville in 2009, in Jacksonville in 2010, in Boulder in 2010 and in Starkville in 2010). Only one of the unranked vs. unranked losses came at home and that was the 2009 loss to Kentucky.

I never want to see my team unranked or losing games. But, if my team has to lose to an unranked opponent I’d want it to be during a down period for the program and I’d want it to be on the road. That’s exactly what has happened for the Dawgs. Again, that’s not “how I’d draw it up” by any means, but if my team is going to be unranked then I’m going to have to be OK with four road losses to other bad teams.

Cause I’m a loser.

Losses Against Ranked Opponents

Of Georgia’s 15 losses to ranked opponents nine (Florida, LSU, Oklahoma State in 2009, Arkansas, Auburn, UCF in 2010, Boise State, South Carolina, LSU in 2011) came against teams who were ranked higher than the Georgia Bulldogs. So, one could make the argument that 60% of those losses were directly in line with what expert pollsters expected. Of those nine losses came at times when Georgia was not ranked.

Furthermore, two more of them came on the road in the SEC against ranked opponents (South Carolina twice in 2010 and 2012). Those games are far from “gimmes.”

It should also be noted that only two of Georgia’s losses to ranked opponents came to teams with lower “peak” rankings than Georgia. What I mean by “peak” is the highest ranking achieved at any point during that given season. The 2008 UGA team peaked as the top-rated team in the country (beginning in the preseason) but lost to a Georgia Tech team that was never ranked higher than 14th. The 2010 Georgia squad peaked with a ranking of 22 but lost to a UCF team whose highest recorded ranking was 23. So on 13 of 15 occasions (86.67%) Georgia’s losses to ranked opponents were losses to teams whose upside (according to pollsters) was higher than Georgia’s during the season.

It’s hard to demand any change from column 1, column 2 represents games that are damn hard to win (for anybody) and columns five and six are to be expected when your team isn’t ranked.Click to Enlarge.

Significance of Polls

Georgia has actually performed at a level comparable to their weekly poll position. Unranked teams are supposed to lose to ranked teams or to other unranked teams, and Georgia has done so. Ranked teams are supposed to beat unranked teams and Georgia has done so. Lower ranked teams are supposed to lose to higher ranked teams, and Georgia has done so. Even good teams are often expected to fall on the road against highly ranked teams, and Georgia has done so.

I’d like to see Georgia operate in a manner similar to their poll position – but improve their poll position. And, I think this is happening.

Using the AP Poll each year until the first BCS Poll is released I found the following to be true on the same time frame as previously examined:

In 2008 Georgia was ranked every week from the preseason to the final poll and had an average ranking of 8.47.

In 2009 the Bulldogs were only ranked from the preseason through the fifth week and had an average ranking during that period of just 19.2.

In 2010 Georgia hit rock-bottom and the Dawgs were only ranked during the first two weeks with an average poll position of 22.5.

Last year the Dawgs rallied to be ranked in each of the last eight polls with an average position of 16.625.

This year the Dawgs have been ranked every week and maintained an average poll position of 7.

Yes that position is sliding as the Dawgs are currently 14th in the poll, but the Dawgs will move up if they can win. Case in point: last year the Dawgs entered the BCS poll in the 22 slot during week 9. Four weeks later they were ranked 13th.

However you look at it, Dawgs are second tier team. Why not take a chance to rise above middle of the pack and go for the gold? Send the coaches packing today. Look at Tennessee. Removed Fulmer, panic, got Kiffened, panic, then Doodled! But if they find a defense next year, they will be something to behold. Dawgs will slip to fourth in the east. Really nothing to lose by firing CMR, CMB, CTG. Dawgs can win most of their games on talent alone. BTW, really like your articles.

The first thing that stands out is something that Richt-bashers will never point out. When Georgia is ranked they have not lost to unranked opposition. In other words, Georgia has avoided massive upsets at the hand of huge underdogs.
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Mark Richt all 12 years to-date – Losses to not Top 25 opponents :
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17-24 Loss Auburn 2001 Unranked**

16-20 Loss Boston College 2001 # 21**

13-20 Loss Florida 2002 Unranked**

33-51 Loss vols 2006 # 25**

22-24 Loss Vandie 4-8 in 2006 Unranked**

20-24 Loss Kentucky 2006 Unranked**

12-16 Loss South Carolina 6-6 in 2007 Unranked**

42-45 Loss Georgie tek 2008 # 22**

10-24 Loss Okie State 2009 Unranked**

19-45 Loss vols 7-6 in 2009 Unranked**

27-34 Loss Kentucky 7-6 in 2009 Unranked**

06-17 Loss South Carolina 2010 # 22**

31-34 Loss Florida 2010 Unranked**

27-29 Loss Colorado 5-7 in 2010 Unranked**

06-10 Loss Central Florida college 2010 # 21**

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**without the win over Mark Richt, opponent doesn’t make Top 25
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Mark Richt all 12 years to-date :

15 Losses in 11 years to teams who aren’t Top 25, even.

10 who even with their win over Mark Richt, did not make the Top 25, even.

5 More Losses to teams who made # 21 to # 25 with their win over Mark Richt all 5 of whom do not make the Top 25 except that they beat Mark Richt.

15 times Mark Richt in 11 years to-date has Lost to Lousy Football Teams, none with any business beating us; none.

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Georgia is a Top 10 All-Time College Football Program in Wins
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We are in a state which finds only 2 other states who send more of the high school recruits to the NFL than we do here in this state. Mark Richt has averaged the # 7 Recruiting Ranking all 12 years to-date and is on-target for that or higher. Average both Scout.com and Rivals’ Rankings and we are # 7 in the nation these 12 years of the Mark Richt era.

Mark Richt sends more of his recruits to the NFL than every other football program in the nation over these 12 years.

Andrew, sir, your response to these 15 losses 10 to teams who did not make the AP Poll Top 25, even with their win over us and 5 more who made the AP Poll Top 25 ranked # 21 to # 25, who without their win over us, would not be ranked – is :

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So, one could make the argument that 60% of those losses were directly in line with what expert pollsters expected.
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Andrew, call me crazy but I do not expect my alma mater to lose to 15 teams who are NOT Top 25 teams that season in 12 years. Did we avoid that last year 2011 ? Yes. Have we averaged one and a quarter such losses EVERY YEAR of the Mark Richt era ? Yes, and we nearly lost one such against a bad vols’ team the very week before we played South Carolina.

What you refer to as the Mark Richt bashers, and I read a poll today which asked the question do you think Mark Richt is the embodiment of THE PETER PRINCIPLE, and only 32 percent (less than one-third of us) said that no he is not the perfect example of the Peter Principle I studied at Terry – what you term the Richt Bashers are saying is that Mark Richt cannot win the games against the teams who make The Top 10.

10 games in a row after # 9 Auburn way back in 2006, seven (7) seasons ago, Mark Richt has Lost to every team who made the Top 10 that season.

10 games in a row starting with the Kentucky game way back in 2007, six (6) seasons ago, Mark Richt has Lost to every SEC team who made a Winning SEC Record that season.

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As for how we’ve done at beating teams who make the AP Poll Top 10 that Mark Richt supporters brag that he has achieved himself 5 of his 12 years here and accomplished in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 only – the last of which was six (6) seasons ago in 2007, Mark Richt has us # 8 of SEC teams in the entire 12-year Mark Richt era at beating teams who make the Top 10.

Do you wish to see the details of The SEC teams in the Mark Richt era at beating Top 10 opponents, or is it safe to say that (1) I have all that research I did and can put it right here at your request and (2) a Top 10 Football Program such as UGA does not compare with all The other SEC teams in the Mark Richt era and come out # 8 at beating teams who make the Top 10.

Shall I put up the number of NFL Draftees we have in the Mark Richt era, and those of our other SEC brethren, and suggest that they must be better at X and O than Mark Richt to have Mark Richt # in The 8 SEC his entire 12-years he’s been here ?

We have plenty of talent. Granted this season, we have now only 66 scholarship recruits plus 1 transfer-in remaining of the 107 Mark Richt signed to scholarships to have been playing Saturday night against Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina team and now cannot play 2012 – a self-imposed NCAA Probation of 18 Lost Scholarship Recruits right now today, Andrew, sir.

I guess I will put those up for you and let it resonate a little :

It is not as Richt-0-Philes maintain that UGA does not deserve top-notch coaching. That UGA, they state, cannot hire a top coach who can win the big games. Be happy. Be satisfied. Oh, and if you look up the other teams in the Mark Richt era, you will not find that Mark Richt is bad at beating the top teams. It is not true they maintain.

Lost to # 2 Georgia 2007
Lost to # 10 Coaches’ # 13 AP Georgia 2008
Won over # 3 LSU 2006
Won over # 8 LSU 2010
Lost to # 2 LSU 2011
Lost to # 5 Arkansas 2011
Lost to # 6 Alabama 2008
Lost to # 1 Alabama 2009
Won over # 10 Alabama 2010
Lost to # 1 Alabama 2011
Won over # 9 South Carolina 2011
Won over # 3 Oregon 2010
Won over # 1 Florida 2006
Lost to # 6 LSU 2005
Lost to # 1 LSU 2003
Lost to # 1 Southern California 2003
Lost to # 4 Southern California 2002
Lost to # 7 LSU 2001
Won over # 10 UGA 2005
Won over # 7 UGA 2004
Lost to # 7 UGA 2003
Lost to # 3 UGA 2002
Won over # 3 Florida 2001
Won over # 8 Alabama 2005
Won over # 10 Virginia Tech 2004

Lost to # 1 Florida 2006
Lost to # 1 Florida 2008
Lost to # 3 Florida 2009
Lost to # 6 Alabama 2008
Lost to # 1 Alabama 2009
Won over # 10 Alabama 2010
Lost to # 1 Alabama 2011
Won over # 1 Alabama 2011
Won over # 5 Arkansas 2011
Lost to # 9 Auburn 2006
Lost to # 1 Auburn 2010
Lost to # 10 Coaches’ # 13 AP Georgia 2008
Lost to # 9 Penn State 2009
Won over # 9 Virginia Tech 2009
Won over # 4 Oregon 2011
Won over # 5 Ohio State 2007
Lost to # 3 Florida 2001
Lost to # 10 UGA 2005
Lost to # 7 UGA 2004
Won over # 7 UGA 2003
Won over # 7 UGA 2003
Lost to # 2 Auburn 2004
Lost to # 4 vols 2001
Lost to # 8 Iowa 2004
Won over # 4 vols 2001
Lost to # 6 Texas 2002
Won over # 3 Oklahoma 2003
Won over # 8 Alabama 2005

“Compare Richt’s record against teams who ended up in the top 10 to other coaches’ records against the same and you’ll find out how stupid your stat is.”

Mark Richt is # 8 of just SEC teams now 2012 in Wins over teams who made the AP Poll Top 10 in his entire 12 years’ career here 2001 through today.

And, it ain’t getting any better.

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“Compare Richt’s record against teams who ended up in the top 10 to other
coaches’ records against the same and you’ll find out how stupid your stat is.”
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Mark Richt finds other coaches better at X and O than he and thus he cannot beat the top teams, as well as the other teams in his own conference during the same timeframe he’s been here. He’s # 8 of just the 2012 SEC teams against teams who made AP Poll Top 10 all 12 years he’s been here.

That ain’t very good.

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MARK RICHT
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# 8 of 2012 SEC teams 2001 through today vs made AP Poll Top 10

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SEC against teams who made Top 10 in Mark Richt era :
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I’ll be more than happy to respond this time, but know that this will most likely be one single response – not a back and forth – as I ‘m not sure you read what I wrote. With regards to Georgia not losing when ranked to an unranked opponent:
• I’m not going address anything prior to 2008 because that is not the time period that this article pertains to and I have another article I’m trying to get up.
• When Georgia lost to Georgia Tech in 2008 both teams were ranked, so no, this was not a loss to an unranked opponent.
• Not only was Oklahoma State ranked when Georgia lost to them (on the road) in 2009, but the Cowboys were ranked higher than Georgia. So, again, Georgia’s loss was to a ranked opponent. A ranked opponent that went on to be ranked every single week of the 2009 season. You’re giving Richt too much credit to say that a win over UGA was the only reason they remained ranked in the top-25 all season long.
• When Georgia lost to Tennessee and Kentucky in 2009 the Bulldogs were not ranked. When you’re not ranked, you lose to teams. I expressed this sentiment in my article.
• When Georgia lost to South Carolina on the road the Bulldogs (who were ranked 22nd) lost to the nation’s 24th ranked team on the road. South Carolina was ranked that week and every week thereafter – but I’m sure that was just because the beat Georgia and nothing to do with the fact that they also beat Alabama and Florida that season.
• When Georgia lost to Florida and Colorado in 2010 neither team was ranked. Unranked teams lose games. To avoid being unranked Georgia should play better and I said that in the conclusion of this article.
• When Georgia lost to Central Florida the Knights were ranked 25th in the country and Georgia was not ranked. UCF had been ranked as early as November, so again, they weren’t ranked simply for beating Georgia. They moved up from it.

Your “15 in 11” stat is blatantly wrong. I did go back and look at those games not only were the previous teams ranked (GT in 2008, OK State in 2009, South Carolina in 2010, Central Florida in 2010), but so was Auburn in 2001 (ranked 24th), Florida in 2002 (22nd), Tennessee in 2006 (14th). Please don’t misrepresent or allege rankings if different scenarios had happened (if team X had lost to UGA, they wouldn’t be ranked, etc.) when teams were ranked before they played the Bulldogs.

Because your 15 figure was wrong, your “10 didn’t even make the top 25 even with…” argument is also wrong.

I’m not sure what data you use on the state to NFL thing bust as of 2011 California, Texas, Florida and Ohio lead Georgia in producing NFL players. So, unless the data has changed or we don’t count two of those territories as states any more, then we aren’t from a state that finds only 2 other states who send more of the high school recruits to the NFL.

I’d like to see where you got your data on the NFL thing, I found data since 2000 and Georgia was 4th.

My response to your 15 figure is that I don’t know where you got those numbers. Maybe the AP Poll varies greatly from the Coaches/BCS poll that shows up on ESPN game recaps. But – for what it’s worth – I used the same standard the entire time I wrote and didn’t misrepresent any numbers or hypothesize as to how or where other teams should have been ranked.

Frankly, I don’t believe all of your research. It might be right or might be wrong, but you told me a few paragraphs ago that Oklahoma State was not ranked when Georgia played them – and that wasn’t true. You told me that Tech wasn’t ranked in 2008 – and that wasn’t true. Should I keep going?

I don’t understand what this sentence: “Granted this season, we have now only 66 scholarship recruits plus 1 transfer-in remaining of the 107 Mark Richt signed to scholarships to have been playing Saturday night against Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina team and now cannot play 2012 – a self-imposed NCAA Probation of 18 Lost Scholarship Recruits right now today, Andrew, sir” means. I really don’t.

I really love all of your in-depth numbers of who beat who in what year, but I don’t and never have measured teams based on where they end up in the top-25. I base games based on where teams are currently ranked. South Carolina, in my mind, beat the nation’s 5th best team. Saying that they beat the 14th best team de-values that win for the Gamecocks. And, I don’t have time to look up how that looks, but I don’t judge my team simply by top-10 wins because if I did they’d be below .500 just like every other squad over the last 12 years. But I guarantee the number is a lot higher than 3.*

*I’ll pause here to point out your anti-Richt slant. You hypothesize where teams would be if they had not beat Georgia as “not in the top-25” but you fail to identify that Georgia knocked several teams out of the top-10 by beating them. Just play it fair both ways.

As for what’s wrong with the picture: I think what’s wrong is your picking and choosing of data. I think what’s wrong is your lack of a better answer to who could coach Georgia. I think you’re wrong in that Alabama, LSU and Florida have all undergone coaching changes that impact NFL draft numbers and recruiting. I think you’re wrong in that there is a huge difference between a first round pick (Alabama has produced 11 since 2009 to Georgia’s 3) and a 6th or 7th round pick.

What it boils down to is this: feel free to use what ever set of polls you like, but make sure you realize Mark Richt’s impact on those polls. I found 8 teams that were ranked in the top-10 that Richt beat and some of those didn’t finish the season in the top-10. Was that because of Richt? I don’t know. But if you can guess where teams would be ranked if Georgia had beat them, then I can say this: Mark Richt has knocked 7 teams out of the top-10 since he got here.

As always, thanks for reading. And I’d love to hear about who UGA’s next coach should be sometime.

Also the Peter Principle isn’t really applicable here as Richt was hired as head coach by the University of Georgia, not promoted to it.

Mark Richt supporters always bring up the whole entire record of the entire body of work of all 12 years, not trying to limit that which happened only starting in 2008 – with regard to having not lost to unranked opponents who did not make Top 25. Still, Mark Richt starting 2008 lost to :(1)
42-45 Loss Georgie tek 2008 who were not ranked and only became # 22 ranked 2008 because they beat Mark Richt. We were ranked. (2) 10-24 Loss Okie State 2009 Okie State did not make the AP Poll Top 25 even with that win over Mark Richt in 2009. We were ranked. (3) 19-45 Loss vols who were only 7-6 in 2009 and who therefore did not get ranked Andrew. (4) 27-34 Loss Kentucky who were also 7-6 in 2009 and also therefore unranked Andrew. (5) 06-17 Loss South Carolina 2010 who made a ranking of # 22 in 2010. At the time, we were ranked. South Carolina never gets ranked at # 22 if they do not beat Mark Richt. (6) 31-34 Loss Florida 2010 also a team who did go unranked 2010. (7) 06-10 Loss Central Florida college 2010 who earned a ranking of # 22 which they would not have been ranked 2010 had Mark Richt not lost to them. (8) 27-29 Loss Colorado 5-7 in 2010 Unranked, in fact so unranked that they had a losing record 2010 and fired their coach, yet beat Mark Richt Andrew.

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We can attempt to mitigate these EIGHT (8) LOSSES to unranked teams starting only 2008 of the 15 Mark Richt has LOST to such unranked teams by (A) starting the list only to cover the last 5 years, and leave out the 1st seven years of the Mark Richt era, but it is still 15 Losses to unranked teams Andrew. And, we can attempt to mitigate the EIGHT (8) LOSSES to unranked teams starting only 2008 of the current 5-year period by saying (B) Mark Richt averaged the # 7 recruiting class but what the hay, let’s DISREGARD all these LOSSES because well Mark Richt with the # 7 recruiting class every year of the 12-year period was NOT ranked himself.
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It still is just an attempt to COVER-UP his FAILURES :
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When he was NOT RANKED is not an ACCEPTABLE EXCUSE for a Top 10 Football Program.
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You can go back and forth if you like or not. It does not alter the fact that like trying to say Mark Richt is the # 4 best football college coach in America active, you are totally ignoring what you purport to be addressing Andrew and that is that those NO LONGER SATISFIED say Mark Richt cannot beat the teams who make the Top 10 in his ENTIRE 12-YEAR CAREER NOW at 3 wins out of 17 such games. Let’s not count coaches who have eaten Mark Richt’s lunch in the SAME TIMEFRAME MARK RICHT HAS BEEN HERE. Let’s not count Les Miles and Nick Saban with both have FAR OUTDONE what Mark Richt has done, and say Mark Richt is the # 4 best college football coach all 12 years when to do so you have to ADD IN YEARS Les Miles and Nick Saban were coaching WHEN MARK RICHT WAS NOT. Preposterous to propose that Mark Richt is BETTER than Nick Saban and Les Miles, to name 2 of about 20 coaches in the Mark Richt era who have done better than he as a college football coach,

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ESPECIALLY AT BEATING THE TOP TEAMS

and just as

ESPECIALLY AT LOSING TO TEAMS WHO LOST TO UNRANKED TEAMS
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And, if you are going to be fair – both ways – then don’t say that Mark Richt earned the AP Poll Top 10 Ranking Five (5) Times in 12-years here : 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007 and NONE of the current 6 years – and, then say that you cannot be bothered to look at ANY of ALL the sites that compare what Mark Richt has done against teams who made the AP Poll Top 10 themselves.

We are to totally discount all this and ACCEPT according to you that we will NOT discuss Colorado as a BAD LOSS 5-7 and so un-ranked they fired their coach.

I hope that you have clicked the URL LINK to what you find so hard to follow that Mark Richt has made the AP Poll Top 10 five (5) times in his 12-year tenure.

Would you like to share with me or anyone else reading your blog what you find so difficult to understand that these are the

ONLY SCHOLARSHIP PLAYERS REMAINING OF THE 107 MARK RICHT SIGNED TO PLAY HERE 2012 :

Here are the 67 signed scholarship recruits on campus.

2008 Signed Scholarship Recruits who with Redshirt play 2012 :

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# 22 in the nation WR Tavarres King

# 29 in the nation S Bacarri Rambo

# 4 in the nation RB Richard Samuel

# 13 in the nation DE Cornelius Washington

# 46 in the nation WLB Christian Robinson

# 39 in the nation CB Sanders Commings

2008 Signed Scholarship Recruits 23
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2009 Signed Scholarship Recruits

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# 10 in the nation DT Abry Jones

# 3 in the nation QB Aaron Murray

# 18 in the nation WLB Mike Gilliard

# 2 in the nation CB Branden Smith

# 2 in the nation WR Marlon Brown

# 18 in the nation DT Kwame Geathers

# 34 in the nation S Shawn Williams

# 20 in the nation WR Rantavious Wooten

# 5 in the nation TE Arthur Lynch

# 9 in the nation SLB Chase Vasser

2009 Signed Scholarship Recruits 20

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2010 Signed Scholarship Recruits

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# 3 in the nation OLB Alec Ogletree

# 25 in the nation RB Ken Malcome

# 12 in the nation DE T.J. Stripling

# 6 in the nation DT Garrison Smith

# 74 in the nation MLB Alexander Ogletree

# 53 in the nation QB Hutson Mason

# 90 in the nation OT Kenarious Gates

# 16 in the nation DT Michael Thornton

# 31 in the nation OG Chris Burnette

# 20 in the nation OG Dallas Lee

# 6 in the nation OT Austin Long

# 45 in the nation DE Dexter Morant

# 59 S Marc Deas SO DB CANCELLED HIS TRANSFER 3 April

# 52 DE Brandon Burrows CANCELLED HIS TRANSFER 9 July

2010 Signed Scholarship Recruits 18

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2011 Signed Scholarship Recruits dream team

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# 6 in the nation S Corey Moore

# 11 in the nation MLB Amarlo Herrera

# 6 in the nation C David Andrews

# 34 in the nation WR Chris Conley

# 38 in the nation CB Devin Bowman

# 8 in the nation QB Christian LeMay

# 37 in the nation DE Sterling Bailey

# 51 in the nation WR Justin Scott-Wesley

# 23 in the nation OT Watts Dantzler

# 41 in the nation OG Hunter Long

Not ranked 2 -star long snapper Nathan Theus

# 28 in the nation OT Zach DeBell

# 9 in the nation CB Damian Swann

# 27 OLB Ramik Wilson

# 7 in the nation CB Malcolm Mitchell

# 4 in the nation TE Jay Rome

# 40 in the nation OT Xzavier Ward

# 6 in the nation DE Ray Drew

junior college transfer DT John Jenkins

2011 Signed Scholarship Recruits 26 (7 gone)

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2012 Signed Scholarship Recruits

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K 7 Marshall Morgan

TE 18 Ty Smith

FB 2 Quayvon Hicks

P NR Collin Barber

DT 9 Jonathan Taylor

OT 2 John Theus

OG 41 Greg Pyke

WR 52 Blake Tibbs

QB 24 Faton Bauta

RB 1 Keith Marshall

junior college transfer OT JC sophomore Mark Beard

RB 13 Todd Gurley

CB 11 Sheldon Dawson

OLB 2 Josh Harvey-Clemons

DE 74 James Deloach

DE 5 Jordan Jenkins

DE 27 Josh Dawson

2012 Signed Scholarship Recruits 19

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2008 Signed Scholarship Recruits 23

2009 Signed Scholarship Recruits 20

2010 Signed Scholarship Recruits 18

2011 Signed Scholarship Recruits 26

2012 Signed Scholarship Recruits 20

66 of these 107 signed scholarship recruits of Mark Richt are eligible 2012

plus one transfer-in.

You said just now Andrew Hall that you could not understand that we have only 66 scholarship recruits remaining of the 107 Mark Richt signed to scholarships who could have played against South Carolina on Saturday night.

Seriously, is that an obtuse point of view with all due respect, or do you really not understand that we have

Again, Georgia is top-10 all-time in wins and ranks 9th in winning percentage under Richt. I’m not concerned about a loss to Colorado several seasons ago.

Again, who should Georgia hire? Answer that question with any degree of legitimate competency in the form of: a candidate that would actually come, a candidate with a resumee better than Richt’s and a candidate that would leave his job; and I’ll post it on my own site.

Sure Mark Richt was promoted to the head coach job, a job which he NEVER held before. In fact, Vince Dooley said that he needed to teach Mark Richt parts of this job, which obviously neither Red Panties Damon Evans nor Howdy-Doody Greg McGarity had ANY experience EVER coaching even a tiddly-winks club sport to assist Mark Richt with.

As a result, Mark Richt the current FIVE (5) Year Period you say I must limit my discussion about him to while you think of what slant to put on his first SEVEN (7) Year Period Article, still shows that Mark Richt in this current 5-year period has not made the AP Poll Top 10.

3 wins out of 17 games against teams who made the AP Poll Top 10 is # 8 in The SEC for the Mark Richt era compared to all these other SEC teams, sir.

If you are unable to see that a team who is ranked # 22 and LOSES, ends up NOT in the Top 25, try looking at the polls sometime, sir. It IS what happens.

You are still trying to mitigate Mark Richt’s LOSSES and attempt to side-track the discussion that all you know is that Mark Richt’s record was at the time of the game ranked or unranked compared to other teams at the time of the game ranked or unranked.

UCF was ranked in 1 poll barely, and not in the other poll at all at game time. Obviously, NEITHER ranks them if they do not BEAT Mark Richt. According to everyone, that 1 game stands out as an UTTER FAILURE on our part. According to YOU, it doesn’t count.

It sure as heck counts against Mark Richt.

I grow tired of all the EXCUSES.

Okie State did NOT make the AP Poll Top 25 EVEN WITH THE WIN OVER MARK RICHT.

Colorado 5-7 when we LOST to them that year does not count according to you because well what the hay, Mark Richt with the # 7 recruiting average all 12-years here, was NOT RANKED.

That is an EXCUSE and you know it Andrew.

Too, that loss STANDS OUT IN THE MINDS OF THOSE who you purport to be addressing.

“Georgia high schools have produced 125 four- and five-star recruits over the last five years. Ohio had 15,000 more students playing high school football than Georgia did in 2010-11, according to the National Federation of High School Associations. Yet Georgia produced 88 more prospects rated three stars or higher than Ohio did over the last two recruiting cycles (2011 and 2012).”

Sports Illustrated quote.

If we take your list, you list Georgia behind California, Florida and Texas ONLY in the nation for high school recruits here who go on to the NFL.

That Mark Richt with the most NFL draft picks of every college in the nation 2001-2012 and averaging # 7 recruiting ranking all 12-years for the 2nd highest recruiting average in the nation in the Mark Richt era

SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT BE RANKED ?

Because that is the premise of this blog discussion you requested of us – me included – sir, that you DO NOT COUNT LOSSES to teams who did NOT make, did not earn, did not deserve to be in the AP Poll Top 25.

You still fail to address the point that EVERYONE but you is saying today Andrew and that is that

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MARK RICHT era – won 3 games of 17 vs teams who made Top 10
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I think it’s precious that you lover your AP end of the year Poll so much. Keep in mind the AP Poll doesn’t go into the BCS Formula.

I limit my speaking to five years because that is Richt’s bad tenure. I don’t think you’d find many supporters of your “Mark Richt sucked early on at Georgia” school of thought.

I also find it interesting that you continue to bring up recruiting, something that I really don’t discuss in this article.

Here’s a stat I bet you hate: Since Richt’s arrival in 2011 Georgia is 9th in total win percentage against FBS opponents. That is absolutely terrible for a top-10 program to be ranked 9th in the nation in winning percentage. We should only count games against top-10 end end of the year AP Poll finishers, because everybody knows that only the games played by those 10 schools matter. Everybody knows that at the end of the season only a total of 120 games are played. Shame on me for thinking that there were 120 teams playing college football at least 12 times each year and wanting to win each time. Shame on me for thinking that games against everybody mattered.

I guess every team in the country is 0-0 right now since the AP Poll hasn’t released it’s end of the season rankings. I guess that Georgia’s resumee is just as good as South Carolina’s or Oregon’s or Alabama’s or Florida’s. Hell, none of those teams have defeated an end of the season top-10 AP team.

I’m done responding to you because I’ve found that the relationship between steadfast Richt haters like yourself and the amount of ALL CAPITALIZED WRITING and typos in general is highly correlated. I recommend that you start your own blog with all your infinite wisdom of the AP Top 10 at the end of the season. After all that tiny percentage of games (17 out of a total of 144 played during Richt’s tenure) is why people watch college football. They watch each game in hopes that the team their team beats will sneak back into the Top 10 when a bunch of media members who don’t actually contribute to the BCS poll get together and vote.

Again, and I’m not being a smart-ass, thanks for reading. Dissenting opinions are always welcome, but please don’t accuse me of “framing” arguments if you are going to use an arbitrary human poll that often judges teams months after they square off against Georgia.